The Party of the Rich?

When you are an outspoken conservative (as I am) who spends many hours on social media each week (as I do), you begin to find certain recurring themes in either discussions with, or study of the voices and writings of, the political left in this country. There are certain themes which pop up again and again and again. Monthly, weekly, daily, hourly. Such take the form of talking points that political liberals have rehearsed so many times and are so ingrained into thought processes that they’ve transcended mere belief and are now ideological absolutes. (Meaning, many have convinced themselves these things are true even in the complete absence of facts, reason, evidence, logic or statistics to back them up.)“The war on women” is one such talking point. Somehow the belief that it shouldn’t be my responsibility to pay for someone else’s contraception, abortive drugs or abortive services has become manifest as waging a “war on women.”

“Raising the minimum wage helps the poor” is another. I’ve researched and written on the topic and the facts are that there’s an inverse relationship between raising the minimum wage and U.S. poverty levels. When the federal government raises the minimum wage the number of people living at or below the poverty line goes up, not down.

There are dozens of such false-but-believed-to-be-truism’s floating around out there; “conservatives want blacks back in chains and on plantations”; “more restrictive gun laws will decrease the number of deaths by gunshot”; “the rich pay no taxes”, on and on it goes. There isn’t a shred of objective data to support any of these fallacies, yet every single minute of every hour of the day they continue to get put forth as fact.

Perhaps none of these is more prevalent than the constant drum beat from the left about how "the Republican Party is the party of the rich", a.k.a. “party of the billionaires”, a.k.a. “party of the millionaires.” There's no data to back this up, of course. In fact what data there is (once again) points the exact opposite direction. And what cannot be derived strictly from data and factual analysis any thinking person should be able to reason out. So let's approach this notion of "the party of the rich" from three distinct angles -- logic, facts and statistics.

Logic
There are currently about 490 billionaires in the country. There are approximately 45 million registered Republicans in the United States. The overwhelming number of these people are not billionaires, are not millionaires, and are not “rich.” So what those who insist on repeating this mantra apparently believe is that some 44.9998 million people vote not in their own best interest but to protect the interests of those in an economic class that they themselves are not in. About 45 million Americans are mysteriously more concerned with interests of a tiny group of individuals far, far, far above themselves on the economic ladder than they are with their own lives and own families. This make no sense and is completely illogical.

Facts
Of the ten wealthiest U.S. House districts in America, eight have voted for, elected, and are currently represented in the U.S. House of Representatives by Democrats. (New York Congressional District 12, Carolyn Maloney (11th term); California Congressional District 30, Henry Waxman (20th term); New York House District 10, Jerry Nadler (10th term); California House District 18, Anna Eshoo (10th term); Connecticut House District 4, Jim Hines (3rd term); Virginia House District 8, Jim Moran (12th term); California House District 12, Nancy Pelosi (14th term); New York House District 3, Steve Israel (7th term). As we can see, not only are these wealthy districts represented by (wealthy) Democrats now, most have been voting for and electing Democrat representation for many, many years. In most cases more than two decades.

On the other side of the perception coin, as measured by per-capita household income, nine of the ten poorest states in America in the last two general elections voted for both John McCain and Mitt Romney (Oklahoma, South Carolina, Louisiana, Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas, West Virginia, Mississippi). Why would the poorest states in the nation vote so consistently for the party of the rich? As people generally vote in their own interests, one would think it the other way around. If the Republicans were the party of the rich then these states would naturally tend to vote Democrat.

Across the country Democrat House districts have an average per-capita income of $27,893, which is roughly $1,000 higher than the average income in Republican districts.

Statistics
Stop fooling yourselves, liberals. These past five years under the Obama administration, the top 1% you so like to loathe have added more personal wealth faster than at just about any point in our nation’s history. Meanwhile those at the bottom are suffering more. Unemployment and workforce participation rates are both extremely high particularly at the lower end of the economic spectrum. Yet we now have more millionaires – a record high number of them. At the same time we now about around twenty percent of American households on food stamps and/or some other forms of government assistance – the greatest number in the history of our nation since the Great Depression.

Even in his most recent State of the Union Address, the President admitted, "those at the top are doing better than ever, while far too many folks at the bottom are getting left behind." Well, who's been running the show? Democrats have controlled two out of three (White House, Senate, House of Representatives) or three out of three for the past eight consecutive years.

There is simply no other objective way to view it: the Democrats’ class warfare rhetoric is completely misplaced and is nothing more than a hoax. A largely effective hoax, but a hoax nonetheless. The constant hollering of “Republicans, the party of the rich” by being against minimum wage increases (a position that is pro-poor), or by wanting to keep income taxation low (which benefits all wage earners, not just the rich) is nothing but smoke and mirrors. Perhaps the only thing more laughable than this massive deception perpetrated by Democrats is the Republicans seeming inability to adequately combat it. When the facts are on your side and you still lose an argument, what does that say about your communication capabilities?

The perceptions are that the Democrats are the party of the poor, the Republican the party of the rich. The truth is just the opposite. Yet somehow Barack Obama and his Democrat cohorts manage to peddle that fabrication while at $30,000 a plate dinners, golfing at private resorts with mega-millionaire friends and donors, and vacationing at multi-million dollar estates on Martha’s Vineyard. All within plain view of anyone, be they on the left or right, willing to simply look. While living lavish lifestyles and rolling around in limousines they manage to tell middle-America, “We’re the ones who care about and can relate to you”, and somehow vast numbers of Americans buy it. For these individuals truth is not reality, perceptions are reality. Because the truth – the demonstrably factual truth -- is the Democratic Party is the party of the rich.

When you are an outspoken conservative (as I am) who spends many hours on social media each week (as I do), you begin to find certain recurring themes in either discussions with, or study of the voices and writings of, the political left in this country. There are certain themes which pop up again and again and again. Monthly, weekly, daily, hourly. Such take the form of talking points that political liberals have rehearsed so many times and are so ingrained into thought processes that they’ve transcended mere belief and are now ideological absolutes. (Meaning, many have convinced themselves these things are true even in the complete absence of facts, reason, evidence, logic or statistics to back them up.)

“The war on women” is one such talking point. Somehow the belief that it shouldn’t be my responsibility to pay for someone else’s contraception, abortive drugs or abortive services has become manifest as waging a “war on women.”

“Raising the minimum wage helps the poor” is another. I’ve researched and written on the topic and the facts are that there’s an inverse relationship between raising the minimum wage and U.S. poverty levels. When the federal government raises the minimum wage the number of people living at or below the poverty line goes up, not down.

There are dozens of such false-but-believed-to-be-truism’s floating around out there; “conservatives want blacks back in chains and on plantations”; “more restrictive gun laws will decrease the number of deaths by gunshot”; “the rich pay no taxes”, on and on it goes. There isn’t a shred of objective data to support any of these fallacies, yet every single minute of every hour of the day they continue to get put forth as fact.

Perhaps none of these is more prevalent than the constant drum beat from the left about how "the Republican Party is the party of the rich", a.k.a. “party of the billionaires”, a.k.a. “party of the millionaires.” There's no data to back this up, of course. In fact what data there is (once again) points the exact opposite direction. And what cannot be derived strictly from data and factual analysis any thinking person should be able to reason out. So let's approach this notion of "the party of the rich" from three distinct angles -- logic, facts and statistics.

Logic
There are currently about 490 billionaires in the country. There are approximately 45 million registered Republicans in the United States. The overwhelming number of these people are not billionaires, are not millionaires, and are not “rich.” So what those who insist on repeating this mantra apparently believe is that some 44.9998 million people vote not in their own best interest but to protect the interests of those in an economic class that they themselves are not in. About 45 million Americans are mysteriously more concerned with interests of a tiny group of individuals far, far, far above themselves on the economic ladder than they are with their own lives and own families. This make no sense and is completely illogical.

Facts
Of the ten wealthiest U.S. House districts in America, eight have voted for, elected, and are currently represented in the U.S. House of Representatives by Democrats. (New York Congressional District 12, Carolyn Maloney (11th term); California Congressional District 30, Henry Waxman (20th term); New York House District 10, Jerry Nadler (10th term); California House District 18, Anna Eshoo (10th term); Connecticut House District 4, Jim Hines (3rd term); Virginia House District 8, Jim Moran (12th term); California House District 12, Nancy Pelosi (14th term); New York House District 3, Steve Israel (7th term). As we can see, not only are these wealthy districts represented by (wealthy) Democrats now, most have been voting for and electing Democrat representation for many, many years. In most cases more than two decades.

On the other side of the perception coin, as measured by per-capita household income, nine of the ten poorest states in America in the last two general elections voted for both John McCain and Mitt Romney (Oklahoma, South Carolina, Louisiana, Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas, West Virginia, Mississippi). Why would the poorest states in the nation vote so consistently for the party of the rich? As people generally vote in their own interests, one would think it the other way around. If the Republicans were the party of the rich then these states would naturally tend to vote Democrat.

Across the country Democrat House districts have an average per-capita income of $27,893, which is roughly $1,000 higher than the average income in Republican districts.

Statistics
Stop fooling yourselves, liberals. These past five years under the Obama administration, the top 1% you so like to loathe have added more personal wealth faster than at just about any point in our nation’s history. Meanwhile those at the bottom are suffering more. Unemployment and workforce participation rates are both extremely high particularly at the lower end of the economic spectrum. Yet we now have more millionaires – a record high number of them. At the same time we now about around twenty percent of American households on food stamps and/or some other forms of government assistance – the greatest number in the history of our nation since the Great Depression.

Even in his most recent State of the Union Address, the President admitted, "those at the top are doing better than ever, while far too many folks at the bottom are getting left behind." Well, who's been running the show? Democrats have controlled two out of three (White House, Senate, House of Representatives) or three out of three for the past eight consecutive years.

There is simply no other objective way to view it: the Democrats’ class warfare rhetoric is completely misplaced and is nothing more than a hoax. A largely effective hoax, but a hoax nonetheless. The constant hollering of “Republicans, the party of the rich” by being against minimum wage increases (a position that is pro-poor), or by wanting to keep income taxation low (which benefits all wage earners, not just the rich) is nothing but smoke and mirrors. Perhaps the only thing more laughable than this massive deception perpetrated by Democrats is the Republicans seeming inability to adequately combat it. When the facts are on your side and you still lose an argument, what does that say about your communication capabilities?

The perceptions are that the Democrats are the party of the poor, the Republican the party of the rich. The truth is just the opposite. Yet somehow Barack Obama and his Democrat cohorts manage to peddle that fabrication while at $30,000 a plate dinners, golfing at private resorts with mega-millionaire friends and donors, and vacationing at multi-million dollar estates on Martha’s Vineyard. All within plain view of anyone, be they on the left or right, willing to simply look. While living lavish lifestyles and rolling around in limousines they manage to tell middle-America, “We’re the ones who care about and can relate to you”, and somehow vast numbers of Americans buy it. For these individuals truth is not reality, perceptions are reality. Because the truth – the demonstrably factual truth -- is the Democratic Party is the party of the rich.